The 5G (also referred to as “NR”) cellular networks are envisioned to support both high single-user data rates (e.g., 1 Gb/s) and large-scale, machine-to-machine communication involving short, bursty transmissions from many different devices that share the frequency bandwidth. The 5G radio standards (also referred to as “New Radio” or “NR”) are currently targeting a wide range of data services including eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broad Band) and URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication). These services can have different requirements and objectives. For example, URLLC is intended to provide a data service with extremely strict error and latency requirements, e.g., error probabilities as low as 10−5 or lower and 1 ms (or less) end-to-end latency. For eMBB, the requirements on latency and error probability can be less stringent whereas the required supported peak rate and/or spectral efficiency can be higher.
In Release-15 (Rel-5) NR, a user equipment (UE) can be configured with up to four carrier bandwidth parts (BWPs) in the downlink (DL), with a single downlink carrier BWP being active at a given time. Likewise, a UE can be configured with up to four carrier BWPs in the uplink, with a single uplink carrier BWP being active at a given time. If a UE is configured with a supplementary uplink, the UE can in addition be configured with up to four carrier BWPs in the supplementary uplink with a single supplementary uplink BWP part being active at a given time.
For a carrier BWP with a given numerology μi, a contiguous set of physical resource blocks (PRBs) are defined and numbered from 0 to NBWP,jsize−1, where i is the index number of the carrier bandwidth part. A resource block (RB) is defined as 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In NR, each of the carrier bandwidth parts can be configured with a particular numerology, comprising the SCS (also referred to as Δf) and cyclic prefix (CP) type such as for Long Term Evolution (LTE). Table 1 below shows the four supported numerologies for NR, with μi=0 corresponding to the LTE numerology.
TABLE 1Supported NR transmission numerologies.μΔf = 2μ · 15 [kHz]Cyclic prefix015Normal130Normal260Normal,Extended3120Normal4240Normal
Various physical channels are also defined by 3GPP standards for 5G/NR. A downlink physical channel corresponds to a set of resource elements carrying information originating from higher layers. The following NR downlink (DL) physical channels are defined:                Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH        Physical Broadcast Channel, PBCH        Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH:        
PDSCH is the main physical channel used for unicast downlink data transmission, but also for transmission of RAR (random access response), certain system information blocks (SIBs), and paging information. PBCH carries the basic system information, required by the UE to access the network. PDCCH is used for transmitting downlink control information (DCI), mainly scheduling decisions, required for reception of PDSCH, and for uplink scheduling grants enabling transmission on PUSCH.
An uplink (UL) physical channel corresponds to a set of resource elements carrying information originating from higher layers. The following uplink physical channels are defined for NR:                Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH:        Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH        Physical Random Access Channel, PRACH        
PUSCH is the uplink counterpart to the PDSCH. PUCCH is used by UEs to transmit uplink control information, including HARQ acknowledgements, channel state information reports, etc. PRACH is used for random access preamble transmission.
In general, an NR UE shall determine the RB assignment in the frequency domain for PUSCH or PDSCH using the resource allocation field in the detected DCI carried in PDCCH. For PUSCH carrying msg3 in a random-access procedure, the frequency domain resource assignment is signaled by using the UL grant contained in RAR. In NR, two frequency resource allocation schemes, type 0 and type 1, are supported for PUSCH and PDSCH. The particular type to use for a PUSCH/PDSCH transmission is either defined by an RRC-configured parameter or indicated directly in the corresponding DCI or UL grant in RAR (for which type 1 is used).
The RB indexing for uplink/downlink type 0 and type 1 resource allocation is determined within the UE's active carrier bandwidth part, and the UE shall upon detection of PDCCH intended for the UE determine first the uplink/downlink carrier bandwidth part and then the resource allocation within the carrier bandwidth part. The UL BWP for PUSCH carrying msg3 is configured by higher layer parameters. In resource allocation of type 0, the frequency domain resource assignment information includes a bitmap indicating the Resource Block Groups (RBGs) that are allocated to the scheduled UE where a RBG is a set of consecutive physical resource blocks. The RBG size can be configured to 2, 4, 8, or 16.
On the other hand, in resource allocation type 1, the frequency domain resource assignment information consists of a resource indication value (RIV) corresponding to a starting virtual resource block (RBstart) and a length in terms of contiguously allocated resource blocks LRBs. The resource indication value may be defined byif (LRBs−1)≤└NBWPsize/2┘ then RIV=NBWPsize(LRBs−1)+RBstart else RIV=NBWPsize(NBWPsize−LRBs+1)+(NBWPsize−1−RBstart)where LRBs≥1 and shall not exceed NBWPsize−RBstart; and NBWPsize is the number of RBs in the corresponding BWP.
The number of bits needed for indicating all possible RIV values can be calculated by ┌log2(NBWPsize(NBWPsize+1)/2)┐, i.e., to indicate all possible starting positions and lengths.
Signalling of frequency domain resource assignment based on RIV encoded with quantized starting virtual resource block (RBstart) and length (LRBs) is performed in the LTE standard, e.g., type-2 resource block assignment field in DCI format 1C for very compact scheduling of one PDSCH codeword transmission; DCI format 7-1A/7-1B for subslot/slot based PDSCH transmission; and type 0 resource block assignment field in DCI format 7-0A/7-0B for subslot/slot based PUSCH transmission. For all these signalling methods, the same quantization step size is assumed for the starting RB position and the length. In addition, the minimum length is limited to the step size (i.e., cannot be one).
In NR, a carrier bandwidth part may be configured with up to 275 RBs. In this case, the frequency domain resource assignment field requires at least 18 bits (with RBG size equal to 16) if using frequency resource allocation type 0. If resource allocation type 1 is used, then, the number of frequency domain resource assignment field can be reduced to 16 bits. Furthermore, the number of bits for type 1 resource allocation may be defined based on another BWP than the one the resource allocation should be applied to. Similarly, due to other constraints, the number of signalling bits may not be sufficient for frequency domain resource assignment in the active BWP on which PDSCH/PUSCH is scheduled to be transmitted. In addition, for some special cases (e.g., msg3 transmission in a random access procedure), the requirements of the RB resolution for starting RB position and length can be different. For at least these reasons, the LTE approach for signalling frequency-domain resource assignment is inadequate, and new signalling methods for frequency domain resource assignment are needed.
A network node may signal a UE's frequency domain resource assignment for PUSCH/PDSCH transmission by using a resource indication value (RIV) corresponding to a starting virtual resource block (RBstart) and a length in terms of contiguously allocated resource blocks LRBs. The number of bits for indicating the RIV may be mismatched with the number of RBs in the BWP in which PUSCH or PDSCH is scheduled to be transmitted. Here, mismatch is defined as the number of bits for indicating RIV is different from ┌log2 (NBWPsize(NBWPsize+1)/2)┐, where NBWPsize is the number of RBs in the BWP. A network node may signal the UE's frequency-domain resource assignment in various ways, which are described below in more detail.
In some examples (also referred to herein as “Method 1a”), the RIV is defined such that it supports all possible allocation lengths (LRBs=1, 2, . . . , NBWPsize), and the resolution (or granularity) for starting virtual resource block (RBstart) is α RBs.                RIV encoding according to the examples of Method 1a can be determined as follows:        Assuming RBstart={0, α, 2α, . . . , (└NBWPsize/α┘−1)α} and LRBs={1, 2, . . . , NBWPsize}, define:RB′start=RBstart/α,L′RBs=└LRBs/α┘+1,k=(LRBs−1)mod α→k={0,1, . . . ,α−1}N′BWPsize=└NBWPsize/α┘        RIV can then be determined according to:if (L′RBs−1)<=└N′BWPsize/2┘ thenRIV=N′BWPsize(L′RBs−1)+RB′start+k*(N′BWPsize+1)*N′BWPsize/2elseRIV=N′BWPsize(N′BWPsize−L′RBs+1)+(N′BWPsize−1−RB′start)+k*(N′BWPsize+1)*N′BWPsize/2        
Also according to the exemplary examples of Method 1a, the value of α can be determined by equations (1) and (2) below. The number of encoded RIVs, M, isM=α(└NBWPsize/α┘+1)*(└NBWPsize/α┘)/2,  (1)
and if the number of bits for signaling RIV is b, then the following must be satisfied:b=┌log2 M┐  (2)
Given a value of b, the resolution for starting virtual resource block (RBstart) in terms of number of RBs (α) can be determined by using equation (1) and (2). For example, if the number of bits for frequency allocation is b=4 bits for a BWP of NBWPsize=6 RBs, then, the resolution of the starting RB should be designed to α=2 as shown in FIG. 1. In another example, if the number of bits for frequency allocation is b=3 for the same BWP of NBWPsize=6 RBs, then, the resolution of the starting RB should be α=3.
In other examples according to Method 1a, the value of α can be determined by α=┌(NBWP,1size/NBWP,2size)2┐, where NBWP,1size is the size of the BWP to which apply the RIV, and NBWP,2size is the size of the BWP used to define the RIV size or the maximum size of the BWP that can be supported by the number of signaling bits used for frequency allocation.
In other examples (also referred to herein as “Method 1b”), the RIV is defined such that it supports all possible starting virtual resource block (RBstart=0, 1, . . . , NBWPsize), and the resolution for allocation lengths is α RBs (LRBs=1, 1+α, . . . , └(NBWPsize−1)/α┘α+1).
In other examples (also referred to herein as “Method 2a”), the RIV is determined such that it supports flexible starting virtual resource block no greater than NBWPsize−Lmin (i.e., RBstart=0, 1, 2, . . . , NBWPsize−Lmin), and the length no less than Lmin (i.e., LRBs=Lmin, Lmin+1, . . . , NBWPsize) with 1≤Lmin≤NBWPsize.                RIV encoding according to the examples of Method 2a can be determined as follows.        
Assuming RBstart={0, 1, 2, . . . , NBWPsize−Lmin} and LRBs={Lmin, Lmin+1, . . . , NBWPsize}, define:L′RBs=LRBs−Lmin+1,N′BWPsize=NBWPsize−Lmin+1
RIV can then be determined according to:if (L′RBs−1)<=└N′BWPsize/2┘ thenRIV=N′BWPsize(L′RBs−1)+RBstart elseRIV=N′BWPsize(N′BWPsize−L′RBs+1)+(N′BWPsize−1−RBstart)
Also according to the example of Method 2a, the value of Lmin can be determined by equations (3)-(5) below. The number of encoded RIVs, M, is determined by:M=(NBWPsize−Lmin+1)*(NBWPsize−Lmin+2)/2  (3)
Assuming that the number of bits available for signaling RIV is b, then, the following relation must be satisfied:b=┌log2 M┐  (4)
As such, given a value of b, the value of Lmin can be determined by using eqs. (3) and (4):
                              L          min                =                              N            BWP            size                    +                      ⌈                                          3                -                                                      1                    +                                          2                                              b                        +                        3                                                                                                        2                        ⌉                                              (        5        )            
In other examples (also referred to herein as “Method 2b”), the RIV is determined such that it supports flexible starting virtual resource block no greater than NBWP,2size−1 (i.e., RBstart=0, 1, . . . , NBWP,2size−1), and the lengths is no greater than Lmax (i.e., LRBs=1, 2, . . . , Lmax) with 1≤Lmax≤min(NBWP,1size,NBWP,2size), where NBWP,1size is the size of the BWP to which apply the RIV, and NBWP,2size is the size of the BWP used to define the RIV size or the maximum size of the BWP that can be supported by the number of signalling bits used for frequency allocation. FIG. 9 below illustrates a manner of using 5 bits for encoding RIV, according to Method 2b, to support frequency domain resource allocation for a BWP with NBWPsize=8 by using Lmax=6. This case is overlaid in FIG. 9 with encoding for the case of NBWPsize=6/Lmax=6.                RIV encoding according to the examples of Method 2b can be determined as follows.        
Assuming RBstart={0, 1, 2, . . . , NBWPsize−1} and LRBs={1, 2, . . . , Lmax}, define N′BWPsize=NBWP,2size. RIV can then be determined according to:if (LRBs−1)<=└N′BWPsize/2┘ thenRIV=N′BWPsize(LRBs−1)+RBstart elseRIV=N′BWPsize(N′BWPsize−LRBs+1)+(N′BWPsize−1−RBstart)
Also, according to the examples of Method 2b, a value of Lmax can be determined by equations (6)-(8) below. The number of encoded RIVs, M, is determined by:M=N′BWPsize(N′BWPsize+1)/2  (6)
Assuming that the number of bits available for signalling RIV is b, then, the following relation must be satisfied:b=┌log2 M┐  (7)
As such, given a value of b, the value of Lmin can be determined by using eqs. (6) and (7):
                              L          max                =                  ⌈                                                                      1                  +                                      2                                          b                      +                      3                                                                                  -              1                        2                    ⌉                                    (        8        )            
In other examples (also referred to herein as “Method 3”), the RIV is determined according to resource allocation type 1 in LTE, but different puncturing patterns are configured to exclude a set of combinations of RBstart and LRBs. Various examples pertaining to Method 3 are given below, but these are intended only to aid in explanation and understanding of the principles related to Method 3 and are not intended to be limiting.
In one example, a puncturing pattern configuration field for indicating the positions of the truncating/padding bits when applying standard RIV encoding can be included in the signalling for frequency-domain resource allocation. For example, the currently-defined maximum number of 275 PRBs, for NR, requires 16 bits to represent a RIV value using the legacy/existing type 1 encoding for assignment of frequency-domain resources, illustrated in FIG. 3 above. If 12 bits are used instead for frequency domain resource assignment in a BWP configured with 275 RBs, then four of the 16 bits can be punctured in various arrangements.
In one such example puncturing arrangement, the two most significant bits of the 12 bits can be used for puncturing pattern indication. For example, these bits can indicate various patterns such as inserting x=4 (e.g., x=16-12) most significant bits with value set to ‘0’ after y bits, and interpret the expanded resource block assignment according to standard SIV method. The value of y can depend on the value of the two pattern indication bits. For example, y=2, 4, 8, 12 can correspond to patterns 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, indicated by the two most significant bits.                pattern 1, 0000 00XX XXXX XXXX        pattern 2, 01XX 0000 XXXX XXXX        pattern 3, 10XX XXXX 0000 XXXX        pattern 4, 11XX XXXX XXXX 0000        
In another example, the puncturing can be a predefined pattern, e.g. the x=4 MSB with value set to zeros are always inserted after y=12 bits; In this case, the predefined pattern is XXXX XXXX XXXX 0000. In another example, the Nhop most significant bits of the 12 frequency allocation bits can be used for frequency hopping indication. The puncturing pattern indication bits can be indicated by the 2 bits after the Nhop frequency hopping bits. Padding bits are inserted after y bits, where the value of y is based on both the hopping bits and the puncturing pattern indication bits. If the puncturing pattern is predefined or configured by higher layers, then no bits are needed (in DCI) to indicate puncturing pattern, and the value of y can depend on the predefined puncturing pattern and the number of bits for frequency hopping indication.
In other examples corresponding to Method 3, the pattern indication can depend on other known parameters, e.g. the range of bandwidth part size. Likewise, the pattern indication bits can be provided to the UE in various ways including, for example: broadcast system information messages (e.g., SIB1); UE-specific Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages that can overwrite existing indication that were predefined or provided in SIB messages; in other reserved fields or code points in the scheduling DCI or RAR message.
In other examples (also referred to herein as “Method 4”), the RIV is determined according to a starting virtual resource block (RBstart) (e.g., similar to Method 1a) or according to allocation length LRBs (e.g., similar to Method 1b). However, exemplary embodiments according to Method 4 differ from exemplary embodiments according to Methods 1a/1b in that the RIV is encoded by using the existing standard RIV encoding based on the BWP which defines the RIV size.
More generally, in Method 4, a frequency domain resource assignment field can be encoded to a RIV corresponding to: 1) a starting virtual resource block (RBstart) with a resolution of KS RBs; and 2) a length (LRBs) of virtually contiguously allocated resource blocks with a resolution of KL RBs. The RIV can be encoded based on existing standard RIV encoding according to a BWP that defines the frequency domain resource assignment field size. In the following explanatory but non-limiting examples, the frequency-domain resource assignment field is assumed to have a size of b bits and to be applied for a first BWP with NBWP,1size RBs. The size, b, corresponds to a second BWP with NBWP,2size RBs, i.e., b=┌log2 (NBWP,2size(NBWP,2+1)/2)┐.
In one group of examples of Method 4, the quantized values of RBstart start from 0 and the quantized values of LRBs start from KL. In other words, RIV encoding is such that an encoded RIV corresponds to a starting virtual resource block RBstart=(0, KS, 2KS, . . . , RBstart,max) and LRBs=(KL, 2KL, . . . , LRBs,max), withRBstart,max=min((NBWP,2size−1)×KS,(└NBWP,1size/KS┘−1)×KS), andLRBs,max=min(NBWP,2size×KL, └NBWP,1size/KL┘×KL),
An example where four (4) bits are allocated for signaling of frequency domain resource assignment in an initial BWP configured with five (5) RBs. The RIV can be encoded according to the initial BWP based on the standard encoding method. To use four bits for frequency domain resource assignment in another BWP configured with six (6) RBs, a resolution of two (2) RBs can be introduced to the starting virtual resource block.
RIV encoding according to the above-described examples of Method 4 can be determined as follows. Assuming RB′start=RBstart/KS and L′RBs=LRBs/KL. RIV can then be determined according to:
If 1 ≤ L′RBs ≤ N′BWPsize − RB′start, thenif (L′RBs − 1)<= └N′BWPsize/2┘ then RIV = N′BWPsize(L′RBs-1) + RB′start   else    RIV = N′BWPsize(N′BWPsize−L′RBs + 1)+ (N′BWPsize − 1 − RB′start)else  RIV = Invalidend
Furthermore, KS and KL can then be determined (for all integer values ≥1) in various ways for this group of examples of Method 4, based on the following definitions:RBstart,max=min((NBWP,2size−1)×KS, (└NBWP,1size/KS┘−1)×KS)LRBs,max=min(NBWP,2size×KL, (└NBWP,1size/KL┘×KL)
Nevertheless, when NBWP,2size<└NBWP,1size/KS┘ or/and NBWP,2size<└NBWP,1size/KL┘, some possible quantized values of RBstart and LRBs may not be supported. Moreover, it is possible to optimize the values of KS and KL to make efficient use of the b signaling bits, and at the same time provide the required flexibility frequency domain resource assignment.
In some examples corresponding to Method 4, the value(s) of KS and/or KL can be determined based on the ratio between NBWP,1size and NBWP,2size. For example, if KS=KL=K, then, K=f(NBWP,1size/NBWP,2size), where the function f(.) can be floor, ceiling, round to the closest integer, or any other function that can be employed to provide an appropriate and/or desirable result.
In other examples corresponding to Method 4, if KL=1 is required (e.g., for PUSCH or PDSCH transmissions with small payload sizes), then the value of KS can be determined based on f((NBWP,1size/NBWP,2size)2), where the function f(.) can be floor, ceiling, round to the closest integer, or any other function that can be employed to provide an appropriate and/or desirable result. Similarly, if KS=1, then, the value of KL is determined based on f((NBWP,1size/NBWP,2size)2).
In other examples corresponding to Method 4, KL=KS=K, and the value of K can be determined as follows. If all quantized allocation possibilities are supported then, the number of encoded RIVs, M, is determined by:M=(└NBWP,1size/K┘+1)*(└NBWP,1size/K┘)/2  (9)
Assuming that the number of bits available for signalling RIV is b, then, the following relation must be satisfied:b=┌log2 M┐  (10)
As such, given a value of b, the resolution for starting virtual resource block and the length in terms of number of RBs, K, can be derived by using equation (9) and (10). Although In the above it has been assumed the down sampling starts RBstart=0 and LRBs=KL, different offset values can be used, leading to slightly different values/equations.
In other examples corresponding to Method 4, KL=KS=1 if the ratio between NBWP,1size and NBWP,2size is below a certain threshold. For example, if:┌log2(NBWP,1size(NBWP,1size+1)/2)┐−┌log2(NBWP,2size(NBWP,2size+1)/2)┐<1,                then, KS=KL=1. For lager BWP, this can be approximated to:if NBWP,1size/NBWP,2size<√{square root over (½)}, then KS=KL=1.        
In other examples corresponding to Method 4, KL=KS=1 if the difference between NBWP,1size and NBWP,2size is below a certain threshold.
In another group of examples of Method 4, the quantized values of RBstart start from 0 and the quantized values of LRBs start from LRBsoffset. In other words, the RIV encoding is such that an encoded RIV corresponds to a starting virtual resource block RBstart=(0, KS, 2KS, . . . , RBstart,max) with LRBs=(LRBsoffset,KL+LRBsoffset,2KL+LRBsoffset, . . . , LRBs,max), with 1≤LRBsoffset<KL, and the maximum values represented as:RBstart,max=min((NBWP,2size−1)×KS, (└NBWP,1size/KS┘−1)×KS)LRBs,max=min(NBWP,2size×KL, └NBWP,1size−LRBsoffset)/KL┘×KL+LRBsoffset)
RIV encoding according to the above-described examples of Method 4 can be determined as follows. Assuming N′BWPsize=NBWP,2size,
            RB      start      ′        =                  RB        start                    K        S              ,and L′RBs=(LRBs−LRBsoffset)/KL+1, RIV can then be determined according to:
If 1 ≤ L′RBs ≤ N′BWPsize − RB′start, thenif (L′RBs − 1)<= └N′BWPsize/2┘ then RIV = N′BWPsize(L′RBs-1) + RB′start   else    RIV = N′BWPsize(N′BWPsize−L′RBs + 1)+ (N′BWPsize − 1 − RB′start)Else  RIV = Invalidend
Furthermore, KS and KL can then be determined (for all integer values ≥1) in various ways for this group of examples of Method 4, based on the following definitions:RBstart,max=min((NBWP,2size−1)×KS, (└NBWP,1size/KS┘−1)×KS)LRBs,max=min(NBWP,2size×KL, └(NBWP,1size−LRBsoffset)/KL┘×KL+LRBsoffset 
Nevertheless, when NBWP,2size<└NBWP,1size/KS┘ or/and NBWP,2size<└NBWP,1size/KL┘, some possible quantized values of RBstart and LRBs may not be supported.
For example, in one example corresponding to Method 4, KL=KS=K, and the value of K can be determined as follows. If all quantized allocation possibilities are supported then, the number of encoded RIVs (M) is determined by:M=(N′+1)*(N′)/2  (11)                where N′=max(└NBWP,1size/K┘, └(NBWP,1size−LRBsoffset)/K┘+1). Assuming that the number of bits available for signaling RIV is b, then the following relation must be satisfied:b=┌log2 M┐  (12)        
As such, given a value of b, the resolution for starting virtual resource block and the length in terms of number of RBs, K, can be derived by using equations (11) and (12). For this group of embodiments of Method 4, KS and KL can also be determined in other ways to make efficient use of the b signaling bits and at the same time provide the required flexibility frequency domain resource assignment, including those discussed above in relation to the other group of embodiments of Method 4.
Furthermore, KS and KL can also be determined, according to this group of embodiments, in various ways based on the time-domain assignment of resources to the UE. In one example, KL=KS=K and the value of K can be determined by K=┌αNBWP,1size/NBWP,2size┐, where NBWP,1size is the size of the BWP where the frequency allocation applies; NBWP,2size is the size of the BWP used to define the RIV size or the maximum size of the BWP that can be supported by the number of signaling bits used for frequency allocation assuming one slot time resource allocation (i.e., 14 OFDM symbols);
      α    =          f      ⁡              (                  14          T                )              ,where T is the time resource allocation in terms of number of OFDM symbols; and the function f(.) can be floor, ceiling, round to the closest integer, or any other function that can be employed to provide an appropriate and/or desirable result.
In another example, KL=1 and the value of KS can be determined according to the same or substantially similar methods for determining the value of α discussed above in relation to Method 1a, e.g., KS=┌(αNBWP,1size/NBWP,2size)2┐. In another example, KS=1 and the value of KL can be determined according to the same or substantially similar methods for determining the value of a discussed above in relation to Method 1a, e.g., KL=┌(αNBWP,1size/NBWP,2size)2┐. In another example, if αNBWP,1size−NBWP,2size is smaller than a threshold, then KL=KS=1.
The above examples of encoding frequency-domain resource allocations for NR are given for purposes of explanation and without limitation. Other approaches and/or variations consistent with the above description can easily be envisioned by a person of ordinary skill in the art. For example, a skilled person would readily comprehend that one of more combinations of the above encoding techniques could be employed. Likewise, a skilled person would also readily comprehend that various additive and/or multiplicative scaling factors could be used in the above encoding methods. For example, scaling factor(s) could be applied to the starting virtual resource block and/or the allocation length prior to performing an encoding according to one (or a combination) of the techniques discussed above. Furthermore, although embodiments have been described above in terms of a first BWP and a second BWP, and how to define RIV encoding for the second BWP using RIV size of a first BWP, such embodiments can be applied to solve more general problems related to encoding of a RIV for a second BWP using a first RIV size value, where the first RIV size value is not a “natural” RIV size of the second BWP.
By more efficient use of the bits available for signalling resource assignments, these and other exemplary embodiments can improve the usage efficiency of physical downlink control channels (PDCCH) in NR, resulting in improvements to the latency of shared resource assignment and in the number of UEs that can utilize a particular PDCCH resource. Such improvements can be manifested as improved end-user performance and/or quality of user experience. Other exemplary benefits include reduced hardware requirements (e.g., fewer processors and memories), which can reduce network deployment cost and reduce environmental impact caused by manufacture, shipping, installation, etc. of hardware components.